If research does confer bonuses, will these bonuses be immediately applied to all eligible units, or will it only be applied to newly-created eligible units?

Is research 'global'? If you research X at some location Y, are the benefits of that research immediately available everywhere else for you?

They will apply to all eligible ships, modules and colonies as soon as its researched. This is to reduce micromanagement and having to upgrade everything.

Will certain research act as prerequisites to other research, or can you choose to research anything?Will there be different 'grades' of a particular area of research?

You are free to research whatever you want for most projects. Some are limited to specific factions.

There are prerequisites for modules to reach the next 'grade'. Limited > Standard > Enhanced > Advanced > PrototypeEach module grade still stays useful in some way (less power requirement, longer range etc.), they shouldn't become completely obsolete.

Is research persistent? Is there any way to lose research, or will the sum of things you research always monotonically increase within a game?

Research projects that give empire wide bonuses (+10% Farming Output for example) will also have 5 levels. Once you have reached the end of a line, the temporary project will become available. These will be something like:

+25% Farming OutputDuration: 1 hourCooldown: 2 hoursRepeatable

You wont be able to keep temporary projects active all the time, but you can choose when to activate once it is ready.

Will any module or facility be required to perform research?Will any consumable resource be required to perform research, or does it just take time? Is there a way to alter the amount of time it takes to research something?

Research facilities need to be built at colonies to generate research data. Each research project has a 'research data' and 'credits' cost as well as the time to complete it.

The research time and number of project slots available will most likely be fixed and the same for everyone. This is to prevent large empires having too much of an advantage and out-researching others.

Is it possible to 'steal' research from other factions? If so, what are the mechanics behind this?

There is no research sharing or stealing at the moment, but may be added later.

Camo5 wrote:So when you say the lower grades will still be useful, does that mean we can choose between the grades at will depending on the situation?

Yes. As you research new ship modules, the older ones can still be used in ship designs and be useful in some way. For example they might be quick and cheap to build or provide some other advantage that the newest research might not have. Better range but much less damage... that kind of thing.